


Little One

by Oriontario



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Hurt Peter Parker, Peter gets injured, caring Tony
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-27
Packaged: 2019-05-28 09:44:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15046232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oriontario/pseuds/Oriontario
Summary: Peter takes things a bit too far and Tony is trying his best to help.





	1. Chapter 1

The web slipped from between his fingers as he fell, a red smear against a blue sky. Spider-man desperately shot webs at the buildings as he plummeted past yet they spiraled harmlessly away like down feathers. A shriek tore from his lips and the ground rose like a wave to meet him. All of a sudden his arm was yanked upwards in a torrent of pain as a web finally caught, ceasing his descent only a few feet from the asphalt. The sudden stop ripped the webbing from his hand and he rolled onto the ground. His chest heaved as he rolled into his side, feeble fingers scrabbled at the edge of his mask as he pulled it over his mouth to gulp in fresh air, spitting the sweat from his lips. Around him Spider-man could hear various shouts and clangs as metal struck concrete and balled fists. 

He had been invited to join the Avengers to strike down a suspected Hydra dead drop in New York, when they arrived it had been an empty warehouse devoid of life save for an army of destructive robots left for the team. He had been ordered to stay on the sidelines and assist citizens, but he was a curious kid — no way he was going to sit and watch. Now, he wished he did.

Spider-man pulled the mask back over his mouth and pulled himself up to a sit against a wall, despite being injured he couldn’t risk revealing his identity. A crackle came in over his comm, breaking through the blank static in his mind.  
“Everyone alright? The drop is cleared, all viable information is stripped. Head back to the chopper, we’re heading back to Stark’s tower.” Natasha’s voice rang in almost too loud for Spider-man’s sensitive hearing. He flinched and put a hand over his ear. A chorus of voices joined Natasha’s as everyone agreed, Spider-man weakly added his own, however it was lost in the din (he was surrounded by the very people he had idoled for years, no way was he going to blow it just because he had measly little aches and pains). He pulled himself up to stand and shook his head to clear the cobwebs settling in his brain. Looking around he couldn’t see any other Avenger near him or the landing point of their chopper so he began to stagger down towards the dim lights of the tower.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of these chapters are going to be pretty short because I’m just testing some stuff out but I’ll try to update frequently!

He pulled himself to the top of a building, shaking loose the web from his arm and leaned against the chilled concrete wearily. He once again glanced about and couldn’t see the helicopter or any other Avenger, they were probably all back at the tower by now. Shouts and a muffled scream broke through his musings. Looking down he saw a young woman, being pushed around by two figures heavily clad in layers of clothing. One held a gun and the other, a knife. The satchel was pulled from the woman’s arms and Spider-man glided down from the rooftops.  
“Hey, mind if I swing by?” he quipped. In one swift movement he pinned the man with the gun to the wall with webbing. He grabbed the bag from the man with the knife and tossed it to the woman, gesturing at her to run and phone the police.  
The man with the knife let out a guttural howl and lunged at him, swiping in a mad fury to kill. Spider-man jumped back, and strung the man up to the wall next to his companion. He suddenly felt swampy and faint, maybe he had pushed himself too far. He wasn’t used to fighting hoards of robots then immediately engaging in a two to one. His tension eased when he heard the distant wail of sirens and climbed atop the building. Maybe he should finally get back to Stark Tower, he didn’t want to keep the others waiting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa, long time no update! Sorry for the delay, all, I’ve had a lot to get done the past few weeks and I’m leaving for a trip tomorrow. I’ll try to update when I can, thank you for all the love!

Spider-man pulled himself up through a window into a room that Tony designated for him, it had everything: thick shades to help his eyes that also blocked noises from the passing cars and the hubbub from far below, a flat screen tuned to the news, books beyond anything he could imagine, and even spare textbooks from AP courses (Peter had used them all). No one else was there as Spider-man arrived, at least none that he saw, so he assumed he had the place to himself for the time being. As he stripped off the suit, it clung to his abdomen and he winced as he had to firmly pull it off. And as he did so, Spider-man once again became Peter Parker. Peter pulled on spare clothes he left on the bed before he left, once again flinching from pain in his abdomen. Looking down he saw the white shirt was stained with a deep crimson. That’s odd, he didn’t keep a red shirt in the closet in Stark’s Tower. Peter merely shrugged and thought nothing more of it, maybe Mr. Stark had picked it up for him and left it in the closet. 

Just then a short knock echoed on the sturdy frame and the door swung open. Tony Stark smiled and swung his aviators down low to throw a wink at the boy sitting on the bed, now dressed in jeans and a white shirt that was still rapidly staining red. A quick witted comment died before it left Tony’s lips and he dashed forward, letting his sunglasses clatter to the floor.

“Holy shit, kid, what happened?”


	4. Chapter 4

Peter eyed him quizzically, “Is this a trick question, Mr. Stark? I just got back from the mission.”

“Yeah, no. Don’t pull that shit here. What happened before you got here?” Tony desperately tried to keep his voice from rising to a shout as he grew more and more frantic. He didn’t need to give the kid a panic attack on top of whatever the hell had happened.

Peter looked away from Tony, he didn’t understand what he was getting at but didn’t like the look he was seeing. He was a superhero, right? So why was Tony interrogating him like he was a kid caught sneaking out of bed? “Mr. Stark, I don’t know what it is that I did to upset you. I only stopped to help out someone getting  
mugged.” Peter shifted his weight and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, not exactly looking at Tony or himself. His eyes were glazed, almost as if he was sliding between realities.

Tony grabbed him by the shoulders and mustered all his strength not to shake the boy. “Peter. Serious question that I need you to answer, okay?” Peter gave a small nod in response, still not looking at him. Tony tried again, “Hey, Pete, I need you to look at me, alright? Please.” The younger’s eyes flicked over to Tony’s but they still didn’t look like they were seeing him. “Do you- Do you feel anything right now. Anything that’s,” he paused to steady his breathing, “that’s not how it’s supposed to be?”

Peter shot a faint smile back as he stepped away from Tony, he felt like he needed to run, anywhere at all but stay here. He was fine, but why couldn’t Mr. Stark see that? Was there something wrong with him? Was he being kicked from the team, why else would Mr. Stark talk like he was too preoccupied to listen to what Peter said? “Mr. Stark, I’m fine I can keep going I’m not going to drag down the team, I promise!”

Oh god the kid didn’t know. He didn’t know. He’s in shock. This is bad. This is very bad. Tony stepped forward, and lost his composure. “Kid, look at your fucking chest.” His breath hitched as he spoke and his voice rose an octave midway through as fear clawed up his throat.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super short update today, expect a long one tomorrow!

Peter slowly looked down. His hand floated up against his sternum and he stared. It was deathly quiet. His hand pulled away and he stared at the trail of red that trailed down his chest. He looked back up to Tony, slack-jawed.

“Mr-mr. Stark?”

Tony stepped forward, arms out to steady the boy in front of him. 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter said one last time as his knees gave out from under him and his legs buckled to the side. Tony rushed forward as Peter’s head smacked the side of the bedpost with a sickening crack. 

“No, no no no, kid get up. Come on, get up.” Tony muttered in a whisper that hardly broke his lips. Time slowed down for genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark. 

And then it stopped.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than I would’ve hoped but I wanted to get this out to y’all.

Tony was in a space, more of a void, really. It was tinged with white but it was… right outside May’s apartment building?

Yes, he was standing on the sidewalk, next to the bus stop that the bus absolutely did not stop for. The road between was rough and littered with deep ruts and potholes that held deceiving amounts of water and had caused more accidents than Tony could remember. Cars rushed by, spraying a slopping mess of sludge onto the sidewalk at Tony’s feet. Tony looked around, anxiety ripping at his mind. Where was he, where was Peter? Pedestrians hurried by, with packs tucked tight against their backs, hoods pulled low over their brows, eyes focused on the sidewalk or onto their phones. Tony glanced down the street before running across, narrowly dodging a taxi driver who didn’t notice him. He jogged up the stairs, security was nonexistent at Peter’s apartment, something Tony worried about but couldn’t fix without drawing too much attention to the place. 

He paused at the door to May’s apartment. He wasn’t sure how he got here, maybe he spaced out? Whatever the case, May had a right to know what happened and Tony couldn’t let himself fall apart without offering her any help. With the hot summer’s breeze that twisted through the complex, the door was propped slightly open as well as the windows, to at least give a suggestion of a breeze to cool down. Tony knocked, but after a few minutes of no answer, nudged his way inside. He stepped into the living room, looking over at stacks of textbooks piled high upon a corner of the couch. A worn backpack with a zipper that did practically nothing was slung on the back of a chair in front of a desk that was strewn with papers covered in a mixture of neat handwriting, that almost seemed to have been printed on, and chicken scratch that more closely resembled the ramblings of a madman. 

The door behind him slammed shut and a familiar voice cried out, “Hey, Aunt May.”

“Peter!” Tony couldn’t stop the shout as he spin round with tears in his eyes, “Peter? I thought you were injured, you collapsed right in front of me… What happened to you?”

“May, I’m home,” Peter’s eyes glazed past Tony’s figure as he lumbered into the room. He looked terrible, swaying on his feet slightly, like one small puff of air would send him toppling out the window. Sweat soaked hair was matted down over one side of his face, masking a black eye, and good lord his eyes. There were deep bags underneath them that told a tale of stress and anxiety, and so many sleepless nights, Tony could read it like a book but how had he not noticed before? 

May walked into the kitchen and flinched at the sight of her nephew. “Peter, what on earth happened to you?”

“It’s nothing, really, I just slipped and fell on the way back from work.”

May’s gaze darkened and she hummed in disapproval. “You know, I really don’t like you working at that internship. What does that man even have you doing? You come home every night more and more exhausted. You need rest.”

“Aunt May, I’m fine. Mr. Stark just had me running papers back and forth and double checking spreadsheets, stuff like that. The Stark internship means a lot to me and I don’t want to lose it.” The lie flowed out of Peter’s mouth like a well-oiled machine. Tony let a tight smile slip, a grimace rather, as he felt the twinge of sympathy in his gut twist into a snake that twirled around him. How often had Peter come home like this to where May didn’t start panicking as much as she usually did? 

“Peter,” May let out a long sigh as she turned to look out the window, anywhere that wasn’t her nephew’s face, “I’m not saying quit the Stark internship, but maybe…” May pressed her hands to her temples and let them fall back down to her sides. “Maybe, you should look for some other places just in case.”

Peter went dead quiet. His breath seemed to slow and he looked as though he was astrally projected from a few dimensions away. “May, I—“ He stopped himself as she turned to him. “May, I don’t know what to say, I—“ He once again paused, then, shaking his head, picked up the bag from the chair and brushed past her as he walked away down the hall.


End file.
